Dominium Seeks to Rezone 30 Acres of Airport-Area Houses for Apartments

A national apartment developer, Dominium, wants Columbus to rezone 30.17 acres of houses near John Glenn airport from commercial to apartment zoning, a change city planning staff recommended for conditional approval. The City Council Zoning Committee is scheduled to weigh the rezoning on October 26, 2026.

What Dominium is asking the city to change

The request, filed as Rezoning Z26-015 and carried in Ordinance 2915-2026, would change 2125 Ackley Place from the Commercial Planned Development District to the AR-1 Apartment Residential District, according to the city's rezoning record. The 30.17-acre site sits on the west side of North Cassady Avenue, about 1,238 feet north of Airport Drive. A Development Commission staff report describes the land as six parcels now developed with single-unit houses.

AR-1 is an apartment-zoning category; the application carries an H-35 height designation, which limits building height to 35 feet. The rezoning does not by itself fix a number of apartments or a site plan, and the record states no unit count.

Who the developer is

The applicant is Dominium, represented by attorney David Hodge, with the property held by Only Just LLC and other owners, the staff report states. Dominium describes itself as a large national affordable-housing developer and manager and says it manages more than 40,000 apartments in 19 states. The Columbus rezoning record, however, commits the project to no affordability terms; it seeks an unrestricted apartment district.

From farmland to commercial to apartments

The parcels have changed zoning before. In July 2019, the City Council rezoned 41.1 acres at Ackley Place and Cassady Avenue from the Rural District to the Commercial Planned Development District, council records show. That commercial plan was never built out, and the houses remained. The current request would move 30.17 of those acres toward apartments instead.

What staff and neighbors recommended

City departments recommended conditional approval, the staff report says, finding the apartment district compatible with nearby multi-unit housing and consistent with the 2026 Columbus Growth Strategy, which maps the site for a Mixed Use 2 category. A traffic impact study is still in progress, and the staff report says access changes may be required before the recommendation can become a full endorsement. The Northeast Area Commission recommended approval on the condition that the developer commit to 100 percent natural exterior materials.

What is still unsettled

Several things are not yet decided. A concurrent council variance, CV26-040, would relax building height, building lines and perimeter yard rules for the complex and will carry the detailed site plan; it travels with the rezoning to City Council. The record does not state how many apartments Dominium intends to build, how tall, or how affordable, and no construction schedule has been set. Neighboring uses include a hotel and an existing apartment complex to the south and part of the Alum Creek Trail to the west.

What to watch next

The rezoning is listed for the City Council Zoning Committee on October 26, 2026, where members can recommend approval, changes or denial before the full council votes. Readers can track the outcome through the committee's action on Ordinance 2915-2026 and the companion variance.